Everyone in our book club loved this book. Alan Drew really went in depth about some of the conflicts between different religions and cultures...especially between Christianity and Islam. A natural disaster takes place that makes one culture more dependent on the other, which basically sets the tone for this novel. This is probably the best book that I have read in the last year and I look forward to reading it again someday.

This first novel provides an insigtful and frightening look at
a clash of cultures between Americans and Turkish/Kurdish Muslims. After the 1999 Istanbul earthquake, a traditional Kurdish Muslim family are surviving the devastation with the organized help of volunteer American Christian missionaries. After tragedy has struck on both sides, the 17 year-old Muslim daugher and teen-age son of one of the missionaries find solace in each other. Their relationship "stirs the pot" of prejudice among the Kurish refugees and is the catalyst for the plot of the book.
This book provided our book club with many discussions about different cultures, traditional religion, the effects of our American culture on traditional socities, the role of America in Iraq and Afghanistan and much more. The author tells a sad and timely tale in this informative novel.

Gardens of Water presents the story of two families united by the earthquake in Turkey. Prejudice, discrimination, religion, fears, stereotypes, the roles of men and women in a Muslim country are all intertwined to create an image of two worlds clashing in the midst of need and despair. The romance between the teenagers sets the backdrop to the culture differences that the book explores.